The Dominion MONDAY DECEMBER 3, 1923. EXTENDING THE METROPOLITAN AREA

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 58, 3 December 1923, Page 6

The Dominion MONDAY DECEMBER 3, 1923. EXTENDING THE METROPOLITAN AREA

A REVIVAL of the proposal that Johnsonville should amalgamate with the city raises questions which should not be looked at only from a, standpoint of immediate convenience and expediency. All questions of this kind should be considered with due regard to the future development of the city and of areas now lying outside the metropolitan boundaries. When amalgamation was advocated by a Johnsonville deputation which interviewed the City Council last week, the Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P.), raised some objections which obviously cannot be overlooked or regarded as unimportant. Asking what the city would gain by absorbing Johnsonville, he observed that the people of small surrounding boroughs were anxious to secure the benefits of city services, but that the city found finance a bar —he meant presumably a bar to the indefinite absorption of small boroughs. There is, of course, a definite limit,to the burdens city ratepayers may legitimately bo asked to carry in order that metropolitan administration and services may be extended into hitherto independent suburban areas. On the other hand this process of metropolitan expansion, if it is directed wisely, will confer great mutual benefits on both city and suburban residents. An unimpeded movement of city population into outer suburban areas is by far the best and most important means in sight of remedying such congestion as is already apparent in the city, and of averting more serious congestion that otherwise might develop in future. That is to say it wjll greatly assist the maintenance of healthy conditions of life and work for the whole metropolitan population. In Britain and in other countries there is a well marked tendency for'cities to distribute their working population over very extensive residential areas, having in some cases a radius of sixty miles or more. The tendency obviously is one that should be encouraged. As it takes effect it combines the advantages of a neutralised oiganisation of industry and business with those of suburban or even rural living conditions. . . A somewhat similar, though tentative, development is in progress in this country, and it will become more pronounced as our rather elementary standards of passenger transport are improved, and approach those of older countries. It is evidently desirable, even at this early stage, that the development of the extensive metropolitan areas which are bound to take shape as time goes on, should be directed methodically and with foresight. ... In the case of Wellington, it is already clear that the inclusion of adjacent boroughs in the metropolitan area is likely in future to extend far beyond the limits meantime attained. The practical difficulties and hindrances to amalgamation which were emphasised by the Mayoi when he spoke to the Johnsonville deputation are not insuperable. Outlying areas of limited population, it is true, cannot expect simply by amalgamating to secure an early extension of all city services. It is equally in the interests of areas of this kind and of the city, however, that the development of as much as possible of the metropolitan area of the future should proceed in accordance with a comprehensive plan. . Immediate obstacles to amalgamation might be overcome by defining zones in which varying standards of development, determined with reference to population, distance from the city centre, and other factors, would meantime bo aimed at. 11 . 1 , . If this were done, all subsequent work in extending and improving transport and other services could be planned and carried out with an eye to future as well as present requirements. No doubt, in these conditions many costly mistakes would bo avoided. A merely temporary decentralisation and division of administrative authority is bound to lead to a great deal of expenditure on makeshift undertakings only capable of serving a temporary purpose. A clear understanding of the varying standards and stages of development that must obtain for some considerable time to come in a rapidly extending metropolitan area probably would go far to facilitate an early expansion of Greater Wellington. This expansion would directly pave the way for such an organisation of engineering and other services as would make in a high degree for efficiency and economy. The resultant benefits would from the outset be shared in some measure by the.inhabitants of highly populated and outlying parts of the enlarged metropolitan area, as well as by residents of the inner city and its immediate suburbs.